What is one thing you like about your current/top choice med school?

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cookiez said:
Whether it be location, unique mission statement, the community, curriculum, etc. Doesn't have to even be the school you'll be attending!
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Top choice school: Nearby to family, in state tuition, also T10 institution for both research and primary care (although I don’t care for primary care), plus big ass mountains to climb nearby

Top choice program if lucky enough: Free tuition plus stipend and a built in research year
 
Had an incredible personal experience there that was a big part of inspiring me to pursue medicine. Also in my home state, T10, and almost everything I'd want in a school.
 
MemeLord said:
Both of the Washington State schools are pretty chill. Mostly that is because they screen based on MCAT/GPA and then toss the stats once you pass threshold. Holistic admissions process yields holistic applicants.
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ESFCOM is the only school I know about that is this open about their thresholds. And they are pretty low:

266484
 
efle said:
unranked pass/fail grading. Everyone should be doing this
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Very few schools actually commit to this 100%. I do agree that unranked P/F in preclinical is helpful. Most schools, even if they say they're P/F in the core clinical year, actually keep some sort of track of how you do. I also agree that unranked class standing is helpful but residency programs will then just rely more on the hints in the MSPE / clinical reviews / letters. It helps to go to a highly ranked school so that the assumption is that most graduates are pretty good.

The main reason that I went to my med school was that it was the cheapest. But there were a ton of other perks that also helped make the decision.
 
StanleyYelnats said:
Where is this magical place?
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Maryland. I'm currently doing summer research there and several medical students that I have interacted with on campus have exchanged contact information, invited me to intramural sport sessions with their classmates over the summer, and have offered to go over my PS and app.

I was blown away by how generous they are with their time and energy.
 
FlowRate said:
Very few schools actually commit to this 100%. I do agree that unranked P/F in preclinical is helpful. Most schools, even if they say they're P/F in the core clinical year, actually keep some sort of track of how you do. I also agree that unranked class standing is helpful but residency programs will then just rely more on the hints in the MSPE / clinical reviews / letters. It helps to go to a highly ranked school so that the assumption is that most graduates are pretty good.

The main reason that I went to my med school was that it was the cheapest. But there were a ton of other perks that also helped make the decision.
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Yeah I have heard that a lot of pass fail schools are "unranked" but still report your quartile or use code words like outstanding/excellent/good that convey the same. Seems like that's just downright deceitful.

I'm lucky to be at a place that puts zero comparative info about preclinical in the MSPE, it's true pass/fail. It was infamously toxic here just 10-15 years ago and now, there's no reason to gun in preclinical whatsoever. If schools are serious about the whole "wellness" movement, this should be priority #1 for their preclinical curriculum
 
efle said:
Yeah I have heard that a lot of pass fail schools are "unranked" but still report your quartile or use code words like outstanding/excellent/good that convey the same. Seems like that's just downright deceitful.

I'm lucky to be at a place that puts zero comparative info about preclinical in the MSPE, it's true pass/fail. It was infamously toxic here just 10-15 years ago and now, there's no reason to gun in preclinical whatsoever. If schools are serious about the whole "wellness" movement, this should be priority #1 for their preclinical curriculum
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It doesn't hurt top ranked med schools' students to have no differentiation among its class members. The same can't be said of med schools that are lower down in the pecking order.
 
MyOdyssey said:
It doesn't hurt top ranked med schools' students to have no differentiation among its class members. The same can't be said of med schools that are lower down in the pecking order.
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Idk how much class rank helps people differentiate themselves though. Its consistently listed as pretty low importance by PDs. It's all about step1 and clinical grades/recommendations, nobody cares if you were 1st vs 2nd quartile preclinical as far as I've seen and heard
 
efle said:
Idk how much class rank helps people differentiate themselves though. Its consistently listed as pretty low importance by PDs. It's all about step1 and clinical grades/recommendations, nobody cares if you were 1st vs 2nd quartile preclinical as far as I've seen and heard
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That's useful to know but you're dealing with a sample size limited to your highly ranked medical school.
 
MyOdyssey said:
That's useful to know but you're dealing with a sample size limited to your highly ranked medical school.
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I'm actually talking about the Charting Outcomes document which surveys all PDs about what they interview and rank based off of. Preclinical performance is unreported here, I'm talking about how PDs say they dont care about preclinicals even when it is reported
 
efle said:
I'm actually talking about the Charting Outcomes document which surveys all PDs about what they interview and rank based off of. Preclinical performance is unreported here, I'm talking about how PDs say they dont care about preclinicals even when it is reported
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OK. Sorry. I thought you were referring to what you observed among your med school classmates and how they fared.
 
Location
Patient population
Good affiliation with hospitals and clinics
Good match list
Competitive Step scores
In-state tuition
 
Incredible students & faculty - feels like a family
Super cheap on-campus apartments
Amazing research and mentorship opportunities
One of (if not the) most diverse and sick patient populations in the country
Pass/fail with non-mandatory recorded lectures

After my first year and ~1 month of summer research (heading into M2) I honestly couldn't be happier here.
 
It's always been dream school/top choice
Unranked P/F
1 year preclinical
Amazing community, attitude, faculty, student body
Lots of time to enjoy things outside of med school (great amount of breaks too)
Lots of time to explore specialties
Cheapest option
Location
College sports season tickets
Great research opportunities and super available
Prestige, but honestly with all the other stuff this didn't really weigh into my decision at all.
 
Gilakend said:
It's always been dream school/top choice
Unranked P/F
1 year preclinical
Amazing community, attitude, faculty, student body
Lots of time to enjoy things outside of med school (great amount of breaks too)
Lots of time to explore specialties
Cheapest option
Location
College sports season tickets
Great research opportunities and super available
Prestige, but honestly with all the other stuff this didn't really weigh into my decision at all.
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How is there time for lots of breaks with all of preclinical crammed into 1 year?
 
MyOdyssey said:
How is there time for lots of breaks with all of preclinical crammed into 1 year?
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To be quite honest with you, as an M0 I’m not really sure. I can say though that when I say 1 year, it’s a full year (12 months) then a summer break.

So while we have lots of breaks (compared to my UG at least), they’re over 12 months.
 
MyOdyssey said:
That's useful to know but you're dealing with a sample size limited to your highly ranked medical school.
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Eh at my DO school it's pretty similar. The PDs of our competitive specialty residencies all basically say as long as you are in at least the middle 1/3rd they don't care. Just don't be near the bottom. Rank really is only a thing if you are either 1. at the bottom then it looks really bad, or 2. in the top 5 because that is impressive. Anything in between these two extremes aren't really a big deal. People separated by 10-20 ranks are often really only within a handful of test questions from each other, literally decimal places in a lot of instances.
 
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